The case for an intervention scale to design the balance of authority for robotic assistance

Van Maris, Anouk; Sumpter, Linda; Ruiz Garate, Virginia; Kumar, Praveen; Harper, Chris; Caleb-Solly, Praminda

Abstract

According to United Nations, by 2050 over 20% of the population will be over 65 years old. Ensuring that our ageing population stays independent and healthy for as long as possible requires higher numbers of health and social care professionals than are available at present. In the UK alone, in the next 12 years one out of five people over the age of 80 will be in need of regular care, with a reported shortage of 250,000 care workers. Robots are emerging as a promising solution to complement and augment the support offered by paid and unpaid carers in maintaining quality of service provision. As well as offering assistance for activities of daily living to older people with ageing-related impairments, robots have potential utility in supporting reablement or home rehabilitation. One of the key characteristics of robotic assistance in a care context is the idea that while assistance is being provided, the service user and the robot are collaborating together as part of a single congruous entity; to move about, perform physical tasks, or interact socially with other agents (e.g. people, robots or other systems). This single ‘system’ concept leads to issues and concerns regarding which of the two agents, service user or robot, has overall control within each situation, that is, where the balance of authority may lie in terms of determining the action taken.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: ICRES 2021, 6th International Conference on Robot Ethics and Standards
• Start Date: Jul 26, 2021
• End Date: Jul 27, 2021
• Acceptance Date: Jun 30, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jul 26, 2021
• Publication Date: Jul 26, 2021
• Deposit Date: May 12, 2022
• Pages: 21-23
• Book Title: Life-world for Artificial and Natural Systems - ICRES 2021 Proceedings
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9322316
• Publisher URL: https://www.clawar.org/icres2021/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ICRES2021-Proceedings-Mansuctipt.pdf